On the peak of an excessive rainfall occasion, an officer managing a reservoir in Keralam could should resolve whether or not, when, and the way a lot water to launch. The reservoir degree is displayed on the display screen earlier than him. However a lot of the opposite data related to that call could also be held in numerous programs and by completely different establishments.
That, in a single picture, captures an necessary a part of Keralam’s flood-management problem. The query is more and more not whether or not the State of Keralam has information, however whether or not the proper items of knowledge might be introduced collectively rapidly sufficient to assist well timed and knowledgeable selections.
Huge enhancements within the State
Keralam has significantly larger monitoring functionality at the moment than it did in 2018 (a yr of extreme flooding within the State). The Kerala State Catastrophe Administration Authority (KSDMA) reported that 100 Automated Climate Stations had been operational by December 2025. The Centre for Water Assets Improvement and Administration (CWRDM) has developed the Reservoir Evaluation Instrument-Kerala, which makes use of satellite-derived storage estimates and modelled inflows to supply near-real-time data on reservoir situations. The Kerala State Electrical energy Board (KSEB) and the Water Assets Division keep reservoir-level and discharge information; the India Meteorological Division (IMD) gives climate and rainfall forecasts; and the Indian Nationwide Centre for Ocean Info Companies (INCOIS) forecasts waves, currents, swells and tides.
The knowledge exists. The bigger problem is interoperability.
There are classes from 2018. The floods in 2018 demonstrated why a river basin have to be understood as a linked system. Excessive rainfall was the principal driver, however what occurred downstream relied on the amount of runoff, reservoir situations, tributary flows and the capability of rivers, lakes and shops to hold the collected water.
The Central Water Fee (CWC)’s research of the 2018 floods gives a putting instance. Between August 15 and 17, it estimated that roughly 1.63 billion cubic metres (BCM) of runoff was generated by the Pamba, Manimala, Achenkovil and Meenachil river programs, towards an estimated carrying capability of about 0.6 BCM in Vembanad Lake. The CWC additionally recognized the then discharge capability of the Thottappally spillway — about 630 cubic metres per second — as a significant constraint. Because of this, round 1 BCM of runoff remained throughout the system, contributing to rising water ranges within the lake and surrounding areas.
Keralam’s Irrigation Division notes that Thottappally was designed for a discharge of about 1,800 cubic metres per second, however siltation within the downstream channel can scale back its efficient capability considerably.
The lesson is necessary. A launch that seems manageable at a reservoir can’t be assessed in isolation from situations many kilometres downstream. Water doesn’t recognise departmental boundaries.
From databases to a choice community
Keralam could due to this fact not want one other stand-alone portal or database, however somewhat a safe interoperability layer that connects the programs it already has.
Such an structure needn’t take possession of the underlying information. Particular person companies might proceed to personal and function their sensors, fashions and databases. As an alternative, a read-only integration layer might map the relationships amongst them in a machine-readable format. Which rainfall stations feed which catchments? Which catchments feed which reservoirs? The place will a launch journey? What different flows will be part of it? Which settlements and significant infrastructure lie downstream? What’s the river’s present carrying capability, together with that of its shops? And what is going to the coastal situations be when the water reaches the ocean?
Each enter ought to retain its supply, timestamp and confidence degree. Hydrological and hydraulic fashions should stay scientifically validated, and institutional duty clearly assigned.
Fashionable information architectures, information graphs and punctiliously ruled Synthetic Intelligence (AI) make such integration more and more possible. However AI ought to come final, not first. With out trusted information and validated relationships, AI merely processes uncertainty sooner.
Know-how should additionally handle an institutional downside. Sharing operational data throughout departments raises authentic questions on possession, reliability, accountability and legal responsibility. A correctly designed system might help handle these issues by sustaining an auditable choice path: what data was accessible at a specific second, which fashions had been consulted, what warnings had been generated, and why a specific advice emerged.
‘The target ought to by no means be at hand management of dam gates to a machine. Statutory authority and duty should stay with designated officers.
| Photograph Credit score:
THE HINDU/VIBHU H.
Such a file improves accountability, however it may well additionally defend an officer who made an inexpensive, evidence-based choice underneath tough situations. The target ought to by no means be at hand management of dam gates to a machine. Statutory authority and duty should stay with designated officers. Know-how ought to give them a greater frequent working image.
Begin with one basin
Keralam needn’t try and construct a State-wide system instantly. The Pamba basin affords a logical check mattress as a result of it encompasses lots of the relationships such a system should perceive: high-range rainfall and catchments, reservoirs, downstream river reaches, the low-lying Kuttanad area, Thottappally, and, in the end, the ocean.
KSDMA, the Water Assets Division, KSEB, CWRDM and related meteorological, oceanographic and know-how establishments might collectively construct and independently validate a restricted pilot.
Its check ought to be sensible: if a specified amount of water is launched from a reservoir now, the place will it journey, when will it attain vital areas, what different flows will it encounter, and what is going to the downstream and coastal situations be when it arrives? Can each reply establish its supply and degree of confidence?
If such a pilot works, it may be prolonged basin by basin. If it fails, its weaknesses may have been found earlier than committing the State to a big know-how programme.
Keralam already has scientific establishments, sensors, forecasts, reservoir data, computing capabilities, and skilled directors. Its subsequent technological leap in flood administration could due to this fact be much less about producing extra information and extra about making the info it already possesses work collectively.
As excessive climate turns into extra unpredictable, that distinction could turn out to be more and more necessary.
Ameer Ahamed is the Founding father of the Manappat Basis which was concerned in 2018 flood rehabilitation works by the Paravoor Punarjani Undertaking
Printed – August 22, 2026 11:48 am IST
